Sunday, August 31, 2008

My heart is so heavy for those who have once again left behind their homes in New Orleans in hopes to return soon and have something still standing. I can't even begin to imagine how they must feel and I feel like I am on the verge of tears everytime I hear the name Gustav. It's funny how something like a storm can take on such a personality. A week ago it was just something out in the water but now, in what seems like overnight, it's become some mean, raging bully, ready to destroy anything in it's path.

We all visited New Orleans a couple of weekends ago. I'd never been before. I was so surprised by it all. I was expecting something ugly. Something dirty. It's up there with Las Vegas as a notorious "Sin City" to me and I can honestly say I walked away with a comepletely different feeling about that place. I have never in my life visited a place so welcoming. I think every person we met was smiling and called you "Honey" or "My Baby" in the words of Miss Patty Cakes, the incredible chef at La Pavilion where we stayed. It was truly a remarkable place with such charisma!!! I'd loved every second of it and just to stay a couple of hours later, Jimmy and I passed on our hour & 15 minute plane ride and drove 6 hours home with a friend. I really did *heart* that place.

We have spent the last couple of weeks since returning home talking about another trip. We were thinking of going in mid-September. Jimmy and I had such a sweet time while we were there and wanted so badly to go back. I doubt we will. There's no telling what or if there will be a New Orleans at the end of the week. Again, my heart breaks for those people. They were so great. Everyone from the bell hop at our hotel to the cab drivers and dealers (at the casion that is). I can't imagine the hurt and fear they must be experiencing.

Lord, I pray you wrap your arms around all of those who have left their homes again. I pray that everyone has evacuated and those that have not will be kept safe. Lord, I pray such peace over their spirits tonight. I pray that every single baby, toddler, child, adolescent is out of there. I pray that you just comfort every single one of them. Lord, only You are capable of such greatness and only You know what is to come. Lord, I pray that as a city we can again take in and house those that are homeless now and maybe permanently. Lord, in all that is to come, I pray that those lost will find You and those uncertain will know that You are near.

I will be glued to my tv and to CNN for the next 48 hours. Let's lift those in Gustav's path up.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Happy Birthday to me!! Yes, I realize my birthday was 2 weeks ago, but I just now received my birthday present from Jimmy and I am so excited! So tonight, I am blogging from the comfort of my bed! Yea! I got a new laptop for my b-day and I am so excited. I say new, but what I really mean is my first. We've had a desktop since, well forever, so I am so excited about the mobility of this here thing. I also love that Jimmy and I can both be on the computer at the same time, which is huge! We fight nightly over the computer and I usually loose because he has important things, like school, to do....whatev! HAHA, anyways...no more of that. I can be on whenever, wherever!!! So cool...

So far we have had a pretty neat weekend. Hot, but neat. This past week our a/c went out upstairs. Which is not the end of the world because we spend majority of our day downstairs, it's just sleeping that is a bit uncomfortable and really hard on MacKenzie's naps. So anyways, last night we went over to Jimmy's moms to sleep. WHICH, was very convenient because we were also in need of a sitter. I attended my first book-launch and it was so much fun. BUT, it deserves it's very own post so I am going to wait for pictures and then post on it.

Today we went to Koi for some sushi and it was sooo good. Afterwards, Jimmy and I took the kids to my mom's to swim. My mom and family are out of town for the holiday weekend so we took advantage of the pool while they were gone. The pool and the a/c.

Tomorrow we have church and then we are working around here. We have a laundry list of things to do and need to get going on it. FUN...not really. One of the items on the list is babyproofing. Namely, putting locks on the cabinets. This is MacKenzie's new favorite thing - getting into the cabinets. So it's that time...I just can't wait!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Happy 10 months! You are sleeping right now and I am trying to catch up on the computer. We have played so much this afternoon. Your new favorite game is chase. You love for me to put you down on the ground and then you take off crawling. You are so fast. As soon as you hear mommy come after you, you start cracking up. You have the silliest laugh I have ever heard. It's not a very pretty laugh, it's grunty, but all the more precious.

You have also learned to clap. It's so cute and you get so amazed at yourself. Now you clap anytime you hear anyone else clapping. Last night I was watching my DVR'd The View and as soon as the audience started clapping, you went crazy. You clapped right along with them for Mrs. McCain - I think we have a mini-Republican already, your PawPaw will be so proud!

Still no first steps, but you are cruising everywhere. You favorite thing to do is push your brother's chairs around. JD has these little preschool chairs that are in the playroom at his little table and you stand in front of them and push them all through the house. You are such a big girl. You pull up on anything and everything. If we leave the fridge open to long, you try to climb right in. Which brings me to...

...You eating. I seriously can't explain how much you eat. I have thought about blogging this several times, but my readers wouldn't believe me. When we go out to eat with friends they can not believe it. I am not kidding when I say you eat more than your 3-1/2 year old brother - EVERY MEAL. Because I do not have enough memory on my camera to capture your entire meal, here's a list of some of the things you have eaten at meals in the last week...

- At my birthday dinner you ate an entie kid's meal. Ok, almost an entire kids meal. I orded you a chicken fajita soft taco from the kid's meal and you ate EVEY piece of chicken, every bit of te rice, and half your beans. This was after eating about 2 TBS full of guacamole and some queso. - At Lupe Tortillas for lunch the other day you ate an entire bowl of the beans they set out and then a whole guacamole salad and all of your brothers rice. - We went to dinner with KK, Pa Tim, and Aunt Shannie last week and you ate a bowl of rice mixed with miso soup, an entire children's tempura veggies, and sushi roll (cooked), 2 egg rolls, and 3-4 grahamn crackers. Seriously?!

I could go on and on. Every meal it's the same way. You love to eat, you're like a bottomless pit. I am gonna have Dr. P. check you for a tape-worm. Oh, and on top of all this you love to nurse!!!

It's funny, because you are becoming Miss Personality as well. It's the oddest thing seeing your own personality traits carried out in your kids. I have never really expriened this with JD. I guess he is a lot like his father. You on the other hand, are your mommy's daughter. I hate to admit it, but you even share a lot of my not-so-impressive traits...

...You lack patience my dear child. Just like your mama. Bless your father. I use to think that the reason Jimmy is so patient was because I am not. We were eachother's balance. I now know it's because later on down the road he was going to have 2 girl's with no patience and well, God, knew he needed all he could get! When you want something, yu want it NOW! There's no waiting with you!!! And when you don't get that something...

...You sure know how to throw a fit. Now, I'd like to think I don't throw as many fits now as I use to, I mean, I do have to behave like an adult. At least in public. But I have no doubt that your KK will say I was the QUEEN OF FITS a few years back!! Daddy will probably agree as well.

...You pretty much like to be center-of-attention. I have no idea who you inherited this from?! If you don't have all eyes on you, you let us know! You have a yell like I have never heard. I once was told that after you hear a certain decibal you'll never hear it again. Well, that was a lie. I hear it. Daily. And it's ear-piercing.

...You like to talk. Right now you can say Mama, Dada, and Bye-Bye but that doesn' stop you. You talk to anyone that will listen. You also make the funniest sounds.

...You are now fake-coughing. It's funny. Not a trait of mine, but very funny. Yesterday we were at Chick-Fil-A after JD's sports class at The Little Gym and a little boy behind us kept coughing. Every time he coughed, you coughed. It sounds so fake and requires a lot of effort but you like attention, so I guess it's worth it. You are too cute!

I am seriously in love with you my sweet girl. You melt my heart daily. Even when you are wearing me out. I am not sure I have ever experienced such a feeling of being completely worn out and frusterated with someone, yet loving them so intensely. It's so strange.

You are growing my darling and in 2 short months will be one. If I could freeze time I would because I LOVE 10 months. You are my precious thing and your daddy and brother think you are IT!! As JD told me this morning, "Mama, I love Kenzie. And the dogs. "

Here's a cute picture of you swinging at the park yesterday. You love to swing, which is something else we have in common. I've always loved to swing, be it normal swing, a porch swing, or a hammock. I love it. Your brother has NEVER enjoyed swinging.

Had to add...

You just woke up and I went in your room to get you out of your crib. As soon as I picked you up, you leaned forward and kissed me (you have also started kissing - those precious open-mouthed baby kisses). Err...at least I think it was a kiss. I did just eat Cheetos so there's a good chance you were looking for some left-overs.

Monday, August 25, 2008

I am so happy I finally get to blog about this!!! Seriously, all my haute mama's out there, this one is for you!!! A friend of mine just launched an incredibly addicting and oh-so-fabulous new website!!! It's dedicated to all things fashion-related for your baby! What haute mama doesn't love haute stuff for their baby??!!

So, PLEASE check it out - you'll be so glad you did!! She's got awesome giveaways every week - right now is a gorgeous Juicy Couture Diaper Bag!!!! So bookmark the site and check back often!!! Oh, and make sure you sign-up for the newsletter for a chance to win the juicy couture diaper bag AND if you blog about it you get 5 extra entries! Holla!

And for whatever reason...blogger doesn't like me right now and it wouldn't let me link the logo to the site. BOOO! So, here's the website and below is the fab-u-lou-so logo!!

www.babywearsprada.com

One last thing...make sure you register and hop on the message boards. You can VISIT me on the "Unwind @ the After Party" (go figure!) section where I am a moderator!!!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

As I have mentioned once or 5 times before, Mississippi was wonderful. I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather spend 2 weeks, except maybe Hawaii. No really, this is why it's so hard for us to go on "vacation" because I hate giving up a couple weeks of time for a beach and water when I could be spending it with my Nana and PawPaw. They are just two of the worlds most special people. I pray that one day I have grandchildren and great-grandchildren that love me the way I (we) love Nana and PawPaw and I can only hope to be half as wonderful to them as they are to us. We are truly blessed...

As usual, we have wonderful memories from MS this summer. JD loves his Nana and PawPaw fiercly and had the best time. He did not want to leave at all!! Everytime I told him we would be leaving soon, he'd say, "No, not yet!"

While in MS we witnessed several new things...some sad, some funny...

A horse had to be put to sleep the first day we were there. He had stepped on a nail and gotten tetnus. I never saw the horse while he was suffering because I am entirely to tender-hearted to witness a thing like that but I was told it was awful! From the tetnus he had lock-jaw and was literally thirsting to death. My Nana, being the good ole southern gal that she is, thought she'd just pry that horses mouth open and give him some water. It didn't work, but she did have to rush into town for her own tenus shot. Yes mam! Eventually the vet came out and put the horse down. It was so sad. BUT, the next day the county came out to bury the horse (I swear, just in telling this story the southern twang that enters my voice every trip up there is coming back) and JD was so excited because he got to watch a "digger" dig the biggest whole ever. JD is 3 and therefore doesn't quite comprehend death, so instead he kept telling us, "That digger, he's looking for buried treasure!" He does understand pirates you see...

If watching a real-live digger in action wasn't enough, JD also got to drive, did you hear that, DRIVE a fire truck! It was the highlight of his trip...errr...year! Uncle Bubba is Captain of the fire dept and on SUnday after his regular shift he brought over the fire truck from the volunteer station for JD play in and DRIVE!! He was a little excited to say the least...

Uncle Bubba and JD...

There she is...

JD loves his Uncle Bubba!!

It's time to ride...

Pulling the horn...

Scoot over Fireman Sam, here comes Fireman JD

JD in Uncle Bubba's Helmet

We also spent a lot of time on 4-wheelers. JD loves riding on them, but you have to watch him because he tends to fall asleep!! One afternoon we rode for 2 hours all through the trails and in the woods, he had a blast and kept telling me, "Mom, this was a good idea!"

JD and Uncle Bubba riding...

Mama with JD

As if the horse incident wasn't enough, we had another death while there. This time - 2 kittens. My allergies were out of control one afternoon while we were there and I took a nap alongside Kenzie. JD was playing with PawPaw in the living room when PawPaw got up to use the bathroom. Well, in the 5 minutes PawPaw was gone, JD decided to sneak outside. While out there he gave 2 of the newborn (4 week old) kittens a bath. Seriously...I can't make this stuff up. So a few hours later we all were off to ride again and noticed the cooler with the lid off. In the botton peacefully resting were 2 drowned kittens and at the top were 2 fighting for their lives. JD had filled the cooler, poured enough DAWN soup in to wash dishes for a month and started scrubbing away. The 2 that were still "swimming" were so covered in soap that eveyr time they breathed bubbles came out of their sweet little noses. It was AWFUL. When I tried to explain to JD that we can't put the kittys in the water because they do not like to swim he said, "But Mama, I told them to swim. I said, 'SWIM KITTY!'" Really, what can you say to that?!

Here are the sweet kittens before...

But it wasn't all fun in games! No Mam!

JD was forced to help bake...he knows everytime he goes to Nana's he gets to bake a cake. One day before we left to head up there we were talking to Nana on the phone and her told her, "Nana, when I come to your house we're gonna make a cake. We are gonna use eggs, and powder (flour), and milk, and stir it up!"

Here they are making a Mississippi Mudcake, which used to be my favorite to make!

I also learned to sew. Yea!! I wish I had pictures to prove it but we were just too busy to stop and pose! However, I did make JD a pair of lounge pants and MacKenzie a pinafore. I just picked up some more material yesterday for a few things...

Here's JD watching Nana make his Cars lounge pants!

Needless to say, we had a wonderful time and can not wait to see them in October. They will be down for Miss MacKenzie's First Birthday!! We will go back to Mississippi for Thanksgiving this year!

Here are a few more random ones from our trip...

Miss Sassy Pants...

One night when we (Me, Shan, Jessica, and Jimmy) went out!

My beautiful sister and I

Nana and her girl

But really, Miss Kenz is a PawPaw's girl! She just loved him!!!

Aunt Shannie and the kids...we are sure gonna miss her next week when she's off at school! =(

Monday, August 18, 2008

I am behind on my posts from Mississippi and and New Orleans, but those are coming. We had too much fun in Mississippi not to share, so I promise to have that up by the end of the week. I am sure you all are just on the edge of your seats! LOL!

And because it's my birthday, YES, my 25th birthday to be exact, I am behind on time. Birthday girl has to look FAB or aqt least the kids do prior to dinner! So, instead of posting about all our travels, I am going to share our professional pictures from the other day! Remember, those fun ones I blogged about...

And you wonder why mama calls her Miss Sassy Pants...

Buds!

Kenz and her tounge...there will be a day that this is not so cute!

My handsome and getting way too big (tear) little man...

Ladies, look out!

Kenz would not cooperate!

Outfit change and sooo over pictures!

Silly boy!

Miss Sassy Pants, "Am I in trouble?" look

And my little surfer dude...we did this one just for his room!

That's it for now...I have to wrangle my crew into cute outfits now...as if there is anything else?!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

We had a wonderful trip to Mississippi. It was 2 weeks of pure wonderfulness. I love that place and absolutely love everyone there! I have so much to share and pictures that I will do this upon returning from my next vacation. I am serious...

Jimmy and I jet-off (that sounds so much cooler than fly) to New Orleans tomorrow!! We are only going for a night because he misses the kids too much (he didn't see them for 1-1/2 weeks while we stayed in MS) to be away longer than that! I know we are going to have a blast and have a big gfroup going - Jimmy, Me, Aylie & Nick (Jimmy's sis and husband), a friend of our's Lynn, Susan & Sammy (Jimmy's mom and BF) and then Aunt Alice & Andrew, plus my mom, Pa Tim, Dustin and his GF and Eric & Allison will also be there! It was so unplanned but it all turned up we were going to be Nawleans the same weekend. Us for me and A's birthday and Alice, mom & crew for the Texans-Saints game! So although I have no desire to pack a suitcase (ever again) I am excited about our quick trip!!! Oh and in case you are wondering, the wonderful Aunt Shannie & Aunt Ninny will be with the babies!

I will post pictures from M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i and New Orleans when I get back!!